7:50 a.m. - My alarm goes off as I jump off my bed to get my phone from the table. I click snooze as I place the phone next to my pillow, and I go right back to sleep.

8:00 a.m. - I officially wake up and change. I go to the bathroom and examine my crazy hair in the mirror, and I wet it in order to reshape it. I get myself ready, pack my bag, take my helmet, and storm out the door as I shout “Have a good day!” to Divya and Lee. I run to the elevator while texting: “Running a bit late, sorry Blake!”

8:32 a.m. - I meet Blake in the lobby and together walk to the nearby MoGo station, as I hurriedly put on sunscreen. “Ready to rock and roll?” asks Blake, and we begin our 20-minute bike trip to ProsperUS Detroit in Mexicantown. The morning bike ride is one of my favorite parts of the day; as the wind brushes my hair and face and the cars rush passed me, I enjoy the moment and feel fully immersed in the surrounding.

9:00 a.m. - We arrive at the office. Right after I put my bag down, I go to the restroom to change into business casual attire, and I chat with the lady who works next to ProsperUS Detroit while we wash our hands. I routinely check and reply emails, and set “goals of the day” for myself. I start working on my projects, such as the Business Plan Template, the Storytelling Write-up, the In-Business Map, etc.

11:20 a.m. - Blake and I start a conversation about tacos, and then we decide to get tacos from our favorite place again, Taqueria Lupitas. We text in the “Blava Tahil” group chat and try to convince Tonya and Sahil to come with us.

11:30 a.m. - Blake, Tonya, (sometimes Sahil), and I take a 2-minute bike ride across the pedestrian bridge to visit Taqueria Lupitas. The meal is extraordinarily delicious; Blake and I feel blessed after the meal, but Tonya and Sahil merely feel an average amount of happiness.

12:40 p.m. - We go back to the office and dive back into our projects.

2:00 p.m. - The ProsperUS team gathers in the meeting room for our team meeting that takes place once a week. The meeting starts with a fun ice-breaker that energizes everyone for later productive discussions.

3:30 p.m. - The meeting ends, and we go back to our cubicle to finish up our work of the day.

5:00 p.m. - Blake, Tonya, Sahil, and I bike back to University Tower from Mexicantown. It is super hot, but biking with them makes the weather bearable.

5:30 p.m. - We arrive at the dorm. I go back to my suite and briefly catch up with Lee and Divya about our day as I eat fruits.

6:00 p.m. - I meet Tonya in her kitchen to make our dinner. We steam jasmine rice, stir fry eggplants, tomatoes and eggs, and cook different kinds of meat. Our "Bacon Mixed Veggies Egg Fried Rice" and "Cola Chicken Wings" should probably be sold in restaurants.

7:30 p.m. - We finish washing the dishes, and I go back to my room to do some work, chat with family or friends on the phone, and take a shower.

10:00 p.m. - Everyone comes to our suite for our favorite activity - Game Night! Uno and Poker are both fun, but Mafia is the best - and also the most intense one. During Mafia, if I don't talk, I get accused of guiltiness; if I start talking, I also get accused, because people think it is abnormally suspicious that I become so vocal. I love playing this game with my Detroit fam.

12:30 a.m. - Everyone goes back to their room for bedtime. I climb onto my bed and procrastinate on the phone.

1:20 a.m. - I set my alarm for the morning, and look forward to a new day of fun and learnings in this wonderful city. ​

I wake up to my alarm ringing at 8:30. Splendid, I have another 30ish minutes to sleep. I hit snooze for 30 minutes.

9:25 AM

I unexpectedly wake up confused as to what happened. I look at my phone and hop at of my bed, disappointed yet again that I overslept. I brush my teeth, hastily make my hair, steam the clothes I will change into at work after biking over (so I don’t get sweaty in my work clothes), and pack my bag. If I have time after this, I eat a banana and down a breakfast shake since it’s #bulkszn (I’ve been trying to gain weight).

9:50 AM

Tonya and I meet downstairs and warmly greet each other. She says good morning, oddly looks at my hair, and says I look like an alpaca again. I mumble a thanks and walk over to the Mogo station trying to digest my food. We used to meet at 9:40, but we found a shortcut to Build Institute, so it only takes us 10-15 minutes to reach there (we’re supposed to arrive around 10:10). On the bike ride there, it isn’t uncommon for Tonya to crash into things, almost get hit by cars, and break her bike during the journey. But it’s okay; I was always there for emotional support. During these trips we sometimes try to communicate with each other, yelling from bike to bike, but it’s pretty much always a lost cause because of the traffic and sounds.

10:15 AM

We arrive at Build. We both drop our stuff off in our office and head to the bathrooms to change into our professional attire. After changing, we return to our office and plop down in the same chairs we’ve basically been sitting at since day 1. We then start grinding on our projects. Throughout the 8 weeks we’ve been given multiple projects, whether that is developing an effective and efficient alumni survey or coding the frontend of the new alumni portal. Tonya and I bounce ideas off each other throughout the day and sometimes tackle different projects to finish the tasks more efficiently.

12:00 PM

Blake texts the GroupMe of the ProsperUs and Build people saying we should all get lunch together at one of the restaurants nearby. We are located in Mexican town though so every place nearby only has Mexican food. I decline since I want to stay on budget and end up buying a super cheap meal from honeybee, the local market. Blake throws a fit about how I never hang out with them but we get over it.

1:00 PM

Tonya and I are back in the office and resume working. We enjoy listening to the conversations our coworkers have in the office and have some good laughs. We ask our supervisor or another member of the team a question about our project if we are missing data or information, but we continue to work without many distractions.

5:00 PM

We head out. Usually there’s some miscommunication between the four of us at Build and ProsperUs, so sometimes Tonya and I head out by ourselves or Tonya waits and I head out by myself. Blake throws another fit in the group chat about how I don’t care about them.

5:30 PM

I arrive at the apartment. I give myself a few moments to mentally prepare myself for the gym. If Dennis is home, he probably strikes up a conversation about the ketogenic diet (a new diet he’s been trying). If he’s not home, when he arrives he’ll strike up a conversation about keto.

I’ll probably see Lee and Divya on the way there. Divya is beaming and looks super excited about the encounter while Lee is probably sweating and helplessly waving her hand to cool herself down.

At the gym I try to go hard even if the day was tiring. Ajay’s usually there pumping me up while spotting me or giving me tips. On the way

7:00 PM

On the way back I decide what I’m doing for dinner. I cooked a lot more frequently at the beginning than I do now. I subsist primarily off of frozen dinners and cheap meals nearby by now. Ajay and I made some banger meals at the beginning of the program but we peaked too early and decided to end on a high note. I eat dinner and usually chill/shower. Daniel might wander by and there’s always fun things to talk about with Daniel.

10:00 PM

At this point there are usually group games, which is either poker or mafia. Everyone gets in the competitive spirit. Whatever game we are playing, Daniel probably starts complaining about how everyone is getting too wild, Lee is sweating and slurping profusely, Divya pierces the air with her spontaneous and really weird laugh, Sofia angrily throws shoes at people, and Blake is usually sticking his finger in my face and saying random things that honestly no one really cares about. Although sometimes there are some screaming matches, we all walk away with smiles on our faces because we got to spend time with each other :D (that was a little too positive but it captures the general idea)

12:00 AM

Sofia and I try to fit in a nice session together where we continue to develop our coding skills. We have some dope conversations and stay up for a couple more hours if we decided to do this.

7:40am I hear my first alarm, decide its not worth it to cook breakfast this morning, and go back to bed.

8:15am I hear my second alarm, realize I’m about to be late, jump out of bed, and scramble to get ready.

8:30ish I meet my work partner Chris in front of the elevators in our Wayne State apartment building. We ride them down and decide if we should walk, use the MoGo bikeshare, or ride the Q-Line to get to work. We leave the building. Sometimes Chris will get attacked by the angry bird that lives in the tree in front of the apartment building. I always feel bad as he yells and runs away but, not going to lie, it’s pretty funny.

9:00am We get to TechTown, and drop our stuff off at our cubicles. I immediately head to TechTown’s “Fueling Station” to get a cup of the free coffee or tea.

9:05am – 12:00pmWe make a rough plan for the day and dive in. This whole summer we have been working one main deliverable, a five-year retrospective economic impact report for TechTown’s SWOT City and Retail Boot Camp programs. An average day consisted of…-pulling reports from TechTown’s custom database-combining that data with numbers from previous reports that were not recorded in the database-creating lists and excel sheets with the new data-carefully documenting the way in which we pulled our data-producing graphics to present our findingsRight now, we are putting the finishing touches on our reports, documenting our suggestions on how to improve data collection, and helping acclimate a new intern who will continue our work.

12:00pm Chris and I grab lunch with Zhao, a former DukeEngage Detroit participant who returned to TechTown as a Broadhead Fellow. After we eat we play knockout with the college students participating in TechTown’s DTX program on the tiny arcade hoop set up in the office.

12:45-5:00 More work. Some days, we will leave and work from a coffee shop for the second half of the day. New Order is our favorite spot because the vibes are good even though the coffee is super gross.

5:00pm We finish for the day and head back to UT.

6:00pm Some of us head to the Wayne State Gym. Mondays we always go to yoga with Kristine. Other days I attempt to keep up with Lee during her crazy workouts (she is a gym god).

7:30pm We get back from the gym. I shower and heat up something in the microwave because I can not cook to save my life. While my food is heating up I chat with Ava and Tonya about whatever delicious dish they whipped up that night.

7:45 pm I bring my dinner over to Lee and Divya’s room where Divya is making chicken. Ajay joins us and we all watch the bachelorette. Ajay gets way too into it.

9:00pm Game time! In the beginning of the trip we played Uno. Uno turned into poker, but Blake would always lose money. Now, we are all really into mafia. Daniel is the chosen moderator for the game. He always yells at Lee for not closing her eyes soon enough.

11:00pm Sahil aka Sahilian comes to my room and we work on our coding projects. I usually distract him. He probably hasn’t gotten anything done this entire summer because of me.​1:00am I crawl into bed and drift off.

​9:10AM My alarm goes off. I turn the blinds open and let the sun shine into my room. I have always liked bigger windows for the sake of some extra sun rays that bright up my day.

9:25AM After getting ready, I start to make breakfast, which initially consisted of avocado toasts + eggs but has become just some microwaved oatmeal.

9:40AM I finish eating and change into my work clothes. Depending on the UV index, I might put on some sunscreen.

9:50AM I go downstairs to meet Sahil, my work partner, for our bike to work. Biking to work is either something to look forward to or dread… depending on the weather. I love it when it is chilly outside with some breeze- biking becomes such a treat. Sahil sometimes would come with a bright green (also the color of his beddings) cup, full of this a drink with a 1000 calories. There was another time when a bird just dived at him and barely missed, only to come back for another shot. That same bird attacked Chris too. We guessed that it has just laid eggs and was being super protective.

9:53AM We get our bikes at the station and start biking. There was one time when after 10 feet out, I felt a weird shake in my pedal. “I think my bike is…” *the pedal falls* “…falling apart…” Yup. I did not even get to finish my sentence. Sahil bikes so fast each day that it could be hard to catch up. I always use the difference between him and me on the trip as a measurement of my stamina and strength in the beginning and end of the summer. And fortunately, I closed the gap by the last day quite a bit.

10:10AM We arrive at Build Institute and settle down in our office. Depending on the progress of our projects, I either continue finishing up the work from the last day or ask Christianne, our supervisor, for new projects. Working with Sahil is such a treat. Sometimes we would try explaining things to each other and just burst into giggles midway. I still don’t know how we do it. It just happens.

12:30 PM Deciding where to eat is so hard. Since we are neighbors with ProsperUS, we frequently eat with Ava and Blake. It is a great way to bond and take a break from our work lives. We are very close to Honeybee Market, which sells a range of Mexican food. The food tasted good in the beginning, but after we have had a few meals, the saltiness and repetition of the food were too much to bear. We began exploring the vicinities of our office, like restaurants on Michigan Avenue and Mexican Town. We found this really cheap taco place, Taqueria Lupitas, (I spend an average of $3 per meal) in Mexican Town- our new go-to.

1:30PM We return to our office and resume working.

5:00 PM We get off work and head to the bike station. When timing is convenient, we bike back with Ava and Blake. The trip back when there are all four of us is one of my favorite parts of the day. With our helmets and identical red MoGo bikes, we look like a bike club. It is great to have company.

7:00PM Because of our shared culinary habits, Ava and I often cook together. Our regular meal includes jasmine rice, stir-fries (eggplant + tomatoes, mushrooms, random meats…), fried rice, and sometimes a dish of dumplings. The best dish we have cooked is the coke chicken wings. I almost cried out of happiness.

8:30PM After finishing up the dishes, I begin to do some of my own work or just chill.

10:00PM Almost everyone goes to room 204 for games like mafia, poker, or UNO. People are crazy about these games.

7:45 am: First alarm goes off. This alarm is purely to get my body to wake up so I don’t miss the next alarm.

7:55 am: Second alarm goes off. I MIGHT get up from this one, depending on how I feel during the day.

8:00 am: Third alarm goes off. I will get up from bed, brush my teeth, wash my face and do my hair.

8:25 am: Pack my snack, make my shake using the blender that probably wakes up everyone in the entire building, and make sure I have everything for the day.

8:30 am-8:35 am: - Sofia and I leave UT and make the decision to either MoGo or take the Q-Line to TechTown. If we choose to take the Q-Line, we walk by this tree that has a SPECIFIC BIRD WITH SCRUFF ON ITS HEAD THAT TARGETS AND TRIES TO ATTACK ME EVERY SINGLE TIME. There is proven evidence that this bird hates me. We can be walking in groups and it flies towards MY head. I hate that bird with a passion.

9:00 am: We arrive at the TechTown buildings. I check my emails and check in with Amy or Sarah to review what the day ahead of us has in store. We both start working on our respective tasks until lunch time.

12:00 pm: Sofia, Zhao and I go to eat lunch. On some days there are pop-up shops in the cafeteria where local businesses come in and sell their hot products. The food is so good every time and a nice way to save money. We also interact with the DTX Launch participants who are our age and play basketball on the mini hoops. Sofia swears she is better than me at this but out of 5 games I won 3 of them.

2:30 pm: I usually get hungry around this time again and crave one of the Panera Bread Mac and Cheese cups that they have. I resist it most of the time because if you look at the nutrition facts, if you eat more than one of those a year you will probably die.

5:00 pm: The day is over and Sofia and I MoGo back to the apartment. I change, relax a bit and eat a snack. Depending on how tired I am, I would take a hour nap at this point so I’m not exhausted later on.

6:00 pm: I go to the gym (which is incredibly overpriced) and workout for about an hour and a half. Anyone who knows me knows that I love to workout alone for the most part but I will gladly workout with someone if they ask. Occasionally instead of weightlifting I will go up to the gym and play pickup basketball with some random guys.

8:00 pm: I eat my dinner, watch some shows (I just reached episode 700). I also would be doing some other miscellaneous things depending on what I have to do that day

10:00 pm: Group games in room 204. It was either Poker or Mafia, two games which I become very passionate about. If its mafia, I will probably die the first night, and if I survive, I die the next day because people think I must be evil if I survive past the first night. Sometimes I’m a bit too passionate.

12:00pm: Shower and get ready to go to sleep and rest before the next day.

7:30 am: My first alarm goes off.7:40 am: My second alarm goes off. I probably turned off the first one and went back to bed.7:50 am: I finally get out of bed to brush my teeth, change, and prepare all the stuff I need for the day. 8:10 am: I begin making my usual ketogenic friendly lunch: spinach, cucumber, mushrooms, carrots, two chicken thighs with skin, lots of cheese, and maybe pumpkin seeds if I’m feeling bougie.8:30 am: I’m out the door walking to the nearest QLine stop. Even though I should be biking to work since I work for MoGo, I’m probably not in the mood to do any physical activity. 8:45 am: Though the QLine is probably the most unreliable form of transportation that’s ever existed, I’m usually on the QLine by this time. I listen to music while I watch the familiar shops on Woodward pass by.9:00 am: I arrive at work, grab myself a cup of coffee, and proceed to my desk. Sam bikes to work but we usually get to the office around the same time. We greet each other and briefly talk about our mornings and what we did the night before.9:10 am: I start my day replying to emails, whether it’s a member of the Detroit Experience Factory Team or a local senior center wanting more information about Adaptive MoGo. Depending on the day, I spend the rest of this morning working on the research and development of current projects, telemarketing to nursing homes and disability organizations to advertise Adaptive MoGo, editing our casual intercept and member feedback surveys, or in a meeting with a member of the MoGo team.1:30 pm (estimate): I’ve been practicing Intermittent Fasting for two months so I’m eating my first meal sometime between 12pm and 3pm depending on when I’m hungry. I take this time to sit at the kitchen and watch the World Cup.2:00 pm: I rarely have meetings in the afternoons so I continue to work on our current projects. Sam and I transition from our desks to a cozy little corner in the office with comfortable chairs. 5:00 pm: Sam and I say goodbye to the rest of the team for the day and head back to University Towers. I take this time on the QLine to call and catch up with friends from home or Duke.6:00 pm: I eat a light snack and then head to the gym with whoever else is going at that time. I spend about an hour doing strength training.7:30 pm: I prepare my second keto friendly meal of the day: chicken thighs / drumsticks, eggs, bacon, and creamed spinach. Everyone makes fun of me for basically eating the same thing every day, but you gotta do what you gotta do to be on track with the stipend. I eat more cheese and peanut butter as a dessert and finish with a glass of almond milk.8:00 pm: I take a shower while bumping my favorite tunes. I’m probably playing Childish Gambino or Daniel Caesar.9:00 pm: After a long day, I’m ready to just relax. Depending on my mood, I either stay in my room and enjoy quality YouTube entertainment or I head to the hangout spot, Room 204, to watch the others get passionate over Mafia games.10:30 pm: I brush my teeth and hop into bed. I browse Instagram, send my daily Snaps, and listen to a Spanish podcast to prepare for my Spanish course this upcoming semester.11:30 pm: I set my alarm, turn everything off, and slowly fall asleep. ​

​7:00 AM- I like to wake up early so I can have a relaxing morning before work. For breakfast, I make scrambled eggs, toast a piece of my favorite Avalon bread, and cut up some strawberries and a peach I bought from Eastern Market last Saturday. While eating breakfast, I read the New York Times. I then make my bed, get dressed, and clean up the apartment for a bit since I have some extra time this morning.

​8:30 AM- I leave my apartment and head to a MoGo station. Biking is a great way to commute to work because it incorporates exercise, it’s fun, and I get to see Detroit from a new perspective. When I’m on the QLINE, it’s so easy to look down at my phone for the entire time and ignore the city as it passes by. Yet when I’m on my bike, I see interesting architecture, shops, restaurants, as well as other cyclists. Something exciting that I observed over these eight weeks on my bike commute was the final phase of construction and opening of an Italian deli on Cass Avenue.

​8:55 AM- I arrive at One Campus Martius after docking my bike at a station. I then stop at the bathroom to wipe the sweat off my face and brush out my hair that got a little messed up from my helmet. These are some of the downsides to bike commuting, but they’re minor and fixable, so I definitely don’t mind.

9 AM- I pull out my laptop to check my email and calendar. Today, Dennis and I are doing a presentation on Adaptive MoGo at a senior living community and meeting with Detroit Experience Factory to continue planning our tour. This morning, I get to work on revising an intercept survey.

11:30 AM- Dennis and I leave for the senior living community. We decided to walk because the wait for the QLINE was 22 minutes. Once we arrive, we set up a pocket mini projector to try out for the presentation. It ended up working quite nicely and it was great to have photos of the adaptive cycles to show to the residents.

​12:30 PM- Once our presentation is over, we QLINE back to the office and eat lunch. Today, I have chicken with tzatziki sauce and hummus as well as a cucumber and tomato salad. Since I prep my meals for the week on Sunday, I don’t have to worry about buying lunch every day.

1 PM- I get back to work on planning the DXF-MoGo tour. Dennis and I discuss possible routes and decide that the Dequindre Cut is ideal because there’s no vehicle traffic on it.

4 PM- I MoGo over to TechTown to meet with Detroit Experience Factory. Our meeting was very productive—We finalized a date, tour route, and a marketing plan for the tour. We are so excited to see one of our projects come to fruition.

​ 5:15 PM- I head back to the apartment and eat an apple with almond butter. I change into workout clothes and walk over to the gym.

7:30 PM- I heat up my dinner that I had meal prepped on Sunday—a sweet potato, black bean, and rice bowl with avocado and cilantro.

​8 PM- I shower and get ready for bed.

8:30 PM- My sister calls me and we talk for an hour and a half about her irrational decision to adopt a cat. Since she lives in Arizona and I only see her a few times a year, we talk on the phone practically every day.

7:30 am – My alarm and my roommate, Lee’s, alarm go off at what is quite possibly the loudest noise you will ever hear. We both grab our phones and hit the snooze button.

7:40 am – I finally get myself out of bed and start getting ready. Lee and I share our dreams from the night before and sometimes we jam to the latest hits – aka Jackie Chan.

8:10 am – I start making my lunch for the day. It’s the usual: a turkey and cheese sandwich with mayo on wheat bread. I eat some cereal for breakfast and quickly grab an apple before heading out the door and shouting “have a good day!” to Lee.

8:35 am – I meet up with Daniel in the lobby. He has headphones on—is most likely listening to a podcast. We walk to the QLine stop and complain about the heat. As soon as we sit inside the QLine we immediately start complaining about how cold it is. We ride all the way down Woodward talking about work, funny stories, and sometimes just listening to other people’s conversations.

8:55 am – We get to work and stop on the fifth floor to see what kind of free food is being offered. Sometimes it’s donuts, sometimes it’s yogurt parfaits, today it’s a cereal bar. Good thing there are no eggs: Daniel thinks he is allergic to eggs and I most definitely think he is not. We then head up to the sixth floor and go into the GreenLight Fund office to check in with Nina before scoping out where we want to do work for the morning. Phone booths—it’s definitely a phone booth day. We walk to the other side of the sixth floor and each take a phone booth: basically a small work space where you can close yourself in from all outside distractions.

9:10 am – I spend the morning working on my social media and communications project. We have bought the social management tool, SmarterQueue, so now it’s my job to fill it with as much content as possible. I scour the internet for the latest social impact and community development stories in Detroit. I use Canva to make infographics and I also do research on some of our partners to see what they have been up to and how we could possibly feature them and their social impact on our social media.

12:30 pm – Daniel and I break for lunch. He goes to Subway to buy his sandwich and I hold down the fort at a table outside in Campus Martius. It’s always a struggle to find a table that is perfectly in the shade, but we always somehow manage to find one. Someone is performing on stage and we enjoy the good music and fresh air.

1:10 pm – We head back inside and finish up the afternoon with more work. In the afternoon I am helping build the pipeline. It is full of researching organizations and adding them to Salesforce. I’m learning so much about all the different nonprofits out there as well as what the social impact scene in Detroit is like.

3:45 pm – Rishi meets with Daniel and I so we can fill him in on how our projects have been going. He has a couple questions for me about SmarterQueue and we go through some of the tweets I have lined up. For the rest of the afternoon he wants Daniel and I to help out with the National Retreat planning so we spend the last hour making phone calls and mapping out a tour route for when everyone working for GreenLight Fund visits Detroit.

4:55 pm – We head into the office to check in with Nina and Rishi before heading out. Daniel and I go to the QLine stop and hop on the next train to get home. Dennis and Sam are on our QLine back—we joke about how they aren’t riding MoGos today. We are exhausted and walk super slowly back to UT.

5:25 pm – I finally make it back to our apartment and Lee and I catch up on our days as we quickly change into gym clothes and go to meet the gym squad at the elevators.

6:00 pm – We make it to the gym and I do my usual routine and then we all head back together an hour or so later.

7:30 pm – Lee and I start preparing our dinner. It’s the usual: I make chicken while Lee makes us salad and rice. We ask Ava and Tanya if we can borrow their soy sauce and act like we are the greatest gourmet chefs of all time. Sofia and Ajay come over with their dinners and we all eat and huddle around my laptop to watch the Bachelorette. Life is good. Sofia convinces all of us to go to Treat Dreams and get a half scoop of ice cream. We all get the dark chocolate chocolate chip and there are no regrets.

9:00 pm – Everyone leaves to shower and get in their pajamas before we all hang out again. Lee ferociously cleans the kitchen and table and bathroom and honestly whatever else she can clean until everyone else gets here—if you can’t tell, she loves to clean.

10:00 pm – People start arriving at our door. We finally hear them by the tenth time they knock. Sahil calls us all memes. Everyone gathers for what will most definitely be a long night of mafia.

10:30 pm – Mafia is in full swing. Tensions are high. You can trust no one. Blake is apparently just a townsperson and no one can tell if Chris is lying.

12:30 am – We all finally head to bed. Lee and I get sentimental about how we love these people and are going to miss everyone so much and joke about how we thought we would totally be sleeping by 9 pm.

My Typical Mondays:7:40AMI wake up to the sound of my alarm. I reluctantly get up and wake for a minute to find my bearings. I go to the bathroom, put a douse my hair and beard with water, brush my teeth, and mentally for the day. 8:15AMI make lunch for the day (usually chicken breast sandwich on italian bread with lettuce, pickles, and mayo). I load a fruit cup and a handful of other snacks that I think I may need during the 9-5 workday. Finally, I prepare my bowl of cereal without milk and listen to my favorite daily podcast, “Market Snacks.” 8:40AMI meet my work partner/9-5 wifey Divya who has a bright smile on her face. She tells me, “Hey.” I reply, “Hey.” After our heartfelt interaction, we walk to the QLine, our mode of transportation to our worksite. On the QLine, we make predictions about what will happen during the day and gaze from the window at the sights of downtown Detroit.8:55AM-9AMWe arrive at WeWork, the location of GreenLight Fund Detroit. Sometimes the co-working space has food events on the 5th floor, so we take the elevator to greet the enthusiastic WeWork managers.9AMWe go into the office and check in with the GLF Detroit Associate, Nina Bailey (She’s awesome!). We give her an update on the work we have done and tell her what we plan to do for the week. 10AMI meet with Rishi, the funniest GLF executive director you’ll ever meet and update him on my projects. There’s never a dull moment with Rishi, his fedora, and his spirited life. 10:30AM-12:30PMDivya and I either work separately in a phone booth work location or together in other work locations on the floor. From time to time, Divya stares at me. I ask her, “What’s good?” She replies, “We’ll talk about this later.”12:30PM-1:10PMWe head for lunch in Campus Martius Park. We look for a spot under the shade, usually around the beautiful fountain. During this time, Divya and I laugh at random things that occurred during the day.1:10PMWe head back to the office and continue our projects.3PM The 3pm drowsies hit us like a rock, but we push forward. At this point, we move to the phone booth work area to have tunnel vision focus.4:55PMWe head to the GLF Detroit office, and check in with Rishi and Nina. We update them on what we did throughout the day, and they give us more insight on our current projects or new project assignments.5:15PMWe run for the QLine! The QLine doors close on us, but Divya, with her superhuman strength, opens the door! 5:30PM We return to University Towers and prepare to go to the gym. I enter the apartment and see Blake. He says, “Sup, bro.” I reply, “Sup.” 6PMI run to yoga class. I had never done yoga before this trip, but I was motivated to go to try it to stretch out my Grandpa-like lower back. It is working! Kristine, the yoga instructor, is the best! 7:20PM I return to the apartment and have some dinner. I either make my food, buy food from a nearby restaurant, or steal Blake’s lean cuisine.9:30PMI take a soothing shower. 10:30 PMI begin to moderate for our daily Mafia games. I anticipate that Lee will not close her eyes for each round. I am right. Her eyes are not closed, and she is super suspect. Blake is a townsperson. We all know Sofia is assassin before even playing. We love this game.12:00 AMI say goodnight Blake, who sleeps on the couch sometimes because the internet connection is better in the living room for watching The Office. I brush my teeth, text my parents goodnight, pray a quick prayer, and wait for sleep to come upon me.

My alarm and my roommate Divya’s alarm go off simultaneously. I click snooze several times and finally wake up as I imagine how much better I will feel when I am at work, sipping my coffee. I stumble around my room, having a conversation with Divya about our weird dreams as we are both half-asleep.

8:50 AM

I have one foot out the door when I receive a text from Ajay asking for 5 more minutes. I then stare at the kitchen, dreaming of how nice it would be to eat breakfast (I have started intermittent fasting thanks to Dennis).

8:55 (ish) AM

I meet Ajay by the elevators on our floor, and we both talk about how tired we are. We begin our walk to the Green Garage, as I almost get run over by a car, but thanks to Ajay I am saved. Once we get to Green Garage, we use our remaining minutes before meetings and work-day tasks to get coffee and answer our snapchat streaks.

11 AM

At this point of the day Ajay and I are in our peak of work productivity, as we claim our usual booth and proceed typing, editing, and finalizing our projects with occasional chat breaks. We then stop to meet with our boss Jake, as we ask him for feedback on our current tasks.

12:30 PM

I take my packed lunch out of the Green Garage fridge, but then Ajay shoots me a look. I know I will soon be convinced to eat out with him. We make our way to Marcus Market, and we order our favorite tacos and quesadillas. We then order “the Boss” at the smoothie bar and split it into two cups. After lunch we are in a food coma for a bit, so I proceed to ask Ajay how to spell simple words like believe? beleive?! because I simply can’t think.

2 PM

At this point, Ajay and I usually have a few meetings for the rest of the day or travel to the production facility and some of the fellows’ work sites. This part of the day is my favorite, as we are always interacting with different people within DFA.

5 PM

Most people have left the office at this point. Ajay and I look at each other and nod in agreement that it is time to go. We say goodbye to whoever is at the front desk and begin our walk back to UT. We walk into Marcus Market again, where we each buy a few missing groceries or cookie dough. (actually just cookie dough)

6 PM

I head to the gym with whoever is part of my gym squad for the day (we wait for Ajay obviously). I take a gym selfie with Sahil in the weightroom. After about an hour and a half or resistance training and cardio, we head back to UT, and Divya and I plan out what we are eating for dinner.

8 PM

Divya prepares her classic chicken for the both of us, as I make a side salad and rice. Others come to our room to eat their dinner with us as we watch the Bachelorette. I then proceed to clean everything to restore our apartment to its spotless self.

10:30 PM

After everyone showers, they come back to our apartment to play mafia. Divya, Ava, and I usually miss the first few knocks on the door, until we receive hostile messages telling us to open the door. Once everyone gets settled, we begin. Daniel is moderator, and Blake and I make him mad when we open our eyes or talk while he tells everyone to close their eyes. After hours of intense mafia and inside jokes, we decide to call last game and everyone heads to bed.

12:30 AM

I brush my teeth using my My Little Pony electric toothbrush that Sofia bought me when I asked her to pick me out a toothbrush at Target. I then get into bed, as Divya and I exchange gossip. We then laugh because we said we would go to bed at 9 pm tonight like always. I set my alarm for 7:30 and begin to slowly fall asleep.